


Coffee By Numbers

by JOBrien42



Category: The West Wing
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, F/M, Fluff, Songfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-25
Updated: 2020-09-25
Packaged: 2021-03-07 16:34:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,081
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26650756
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JOBrien42/pseuds/JOBrien42
Summary: An alternate universe where Donna Moss worked for the WLC, she runs into Josh Lyman after the events of "Posse Comitatus"
Relationships: Josh Lyman/Donna Moss
Comments: 21
Kudos: 65





	Coffee By Numbers

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Coffee By Numbers](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/690781) by Marian Call. 



Donna Moss slid into an open seat in Coffee By Numbers with her latte. She’d tried the WLC offices to try to get some work done, but she’d taken one despairing look at her desk, at the mountain of work left in the wake of the firing of their Director the week before, grabbed a couple files and fled to a cheerier and more caffeinated locale.

She’d been with the Women’s Leadership Coalition for about a year, after finally washing her hands of that freeloading boyfriend and finishing her degree. She’d interned for three months before being hired full time as a staffer under Amy Gardner. And she’d loved it. The excitement of being in Washington reminded her that she’d almost tried to get a job with the Bartlet campaign. Perhaps she would have, too, if her car hadn’t broken down fifteen miles outside Madison. Perhaps in another world, she was there in the White House, helping make decisions that shaped the country.

She rolled her eyes. Four years ago she hadn’t had a degree, and her self-confidence had been at its lowest ebb. At best she’d be lucky to have a secretarial position right now. 

Granted, a secretary would have a nice, reasonable nine to five schedule and not have to cover three critical projects left in the wake of Amy’s departure. She imagined their clerical staff might have to work some Saturdays, but certainly not Sundays as well. She looked guiltily at the files peeking out from her bag, then stopped herself. She’d worked til one in the morning and showed up at the office at eight, and in between hadn’t been able to sleep. She wasn’t going to be of any use to anyone anyway, so instead she decided to take a day to recharge, enjoy her beverage, and then tackle the work tomorrow.

She looked up from her coffee at the other patrons, sitting, chatting, reading the Sunday paper. Over in one corner, she saw a man hunched over a laptop, a stack of binders balanced precariously on the table next to his coffee and a bagel with a bite taken out of it, seemingly forgotten and half-hidden under a blue folder.

She felt a shock of recognition. She knew those unruly brown curls, that forehead creased in thought. Joshua Lyman, Deputy Chief of Staff to President Bartlet. Boyfriend of Amy Gardner and the reason she was the former Director of the W.L.C.

She found herself watching him for a while. She could see the bags under his eyes - he’d been getting less sleep than she had, apparently. He would guzzle down his coffee, stack the cup inside the previous one, and then go order another, with cream and three sugars, again in a to-go cup. Then he would immediately dive back into his work, as if the world depended on it.

Given his job, maybe it did. 

Donna looked down at her empty cup and went to the counter. “Could I get a green tea, with one sugar. And could I get that in a real cup, please?”

She paid the barista, left her customary generous tip and headed back to her seat, but found that her feet were leading her to the corner where Mr. Lyman was sitting.

“Um,” she began. “I know you look pretty busy…”

He looked up, startled from his research. “Hi,” he replied, his eyes a little suspicious. He held up a hand. “Look, I’m very flattered but I really have a lot of work to do.”

She was taken aback. “I’m sorry?”

“You’re not asking for an autograph?” he said.

“God, no!” she answered, surprised. “I was just... does that actually happen to you? People ask you for your autograph?”

“More often than you’d expect,” he said, with a confidence that made her believe him. “So how can I help you, Ms. - hey, I’ve seen you before, haven’t I?”

That surprised Donna a bit. He’d only been in the offices a few times, and it had looked like he’d only had eyes for Amy when he did. “I work for the Women’s Leadership Coalition.”

His expression grew pained. “Right,” he said. “Listen, if you want to yell at me about the marriage incentives, can we do it another time? You can even make an appointment with my assistant, Ginger.”

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I didn’t mean to… I’m not doing a very good job of this.”

Josh arched an eyebrow. “I’m not sure what this is, to be honest.”

“I didn’t even introduce myself, which was very rude of me.” she said. “Or even say, hello. I just interrupted you.”

“Miss, it’s fine,” he said, exasperation creeping into his voice. 

“No, it’s really not,” she said, before straightening her posture and offering her hand. “Hi, I’m Donnatella Moss, and I’m pleased to meet you.”

His eyes remained skeptical, but he took her hand and shook it once. “Hello Donnatella Moss. I’m Josh Lyman.”

“I know,” she said, with a little laugh.

“Now, is there something I can help you with, Ms. Moss?”

“You shouldn’t drink your coffee so fast,” she blurted out. “You can’t even taste it when you do. And getting each drink in a to-go cup isn’t environmentally friendly either.”

He looked up at her, bewildered. “You came over to nag me about my drinking habits?”

“No!” she exclaimed. “That came out all wrong. I’m sorry, we’ve been inundated with work after Ms. Gardner resigned, and I haven’t gotten a lot of sleep…”

There was a flash of guilt that crossed his expression. “Yeah.”

“I do get it,” Donna said, trying to reassure him. “We needed that welfare bill reauthorization. You got a billion dollars, but had to make a crappy trade for it.”

Josh looked at her with surprise. 

“The marriage incentives are terrible, but I wasn’t in the room, so I don’t know how the fight went. I do know it was a more palatable bill even considering the incentives before we made you go after Republican votes.” Donna paused. “All of this is to say that I don’t blame you for how it went down. I came over here because I found myself watching a public servant on the verge of working himself to death, and I didn’t think that was an efficient use of my tax dollars.”

“Um, thanks?”

“Look, Mr. Lyman-”

“Josh,” he corrected.

“Josh,” she repeated. “Look, Josh, I know it’s an election year, and I know that you probably are working on ways to win back women’s groups that Amy stirred up, aside from putting our president on the platform committee. But you need to calm yourself, if only for a moment. You have to remember to breathe.”

“I have-” he began but she shushed him.

“You can take ten minutes. Put away your binders and your files, and just chill for a bit. Let me get you a cup of tea, and we can just sit. We can talk - or not - but you absolutely do not need another shot of espresso in your eleventh cup of coffee right now. Let’s just… stop the world for a bit.”

She went back to the counter, and was pleased to see him stashing his papers in the old Jansport bookbag next to his chair. She got him a nice soothing herbal tea and brought it to his table, before going to retrieve her own things and bring them over, sitting down across from him.

“So why is the Deputy Chief of Staff working in a coffee shop on a Sunday morning?” she began.

He shrugged. “Because the President and his Chief of Staff kicked us out of the office for a day.”

“So why aren’t you at home, relaxing and enjoying the break?”

There was another look of self-recrimination. “Yeah, I gotta go,” he said, and turned to grab his bag. “Thanks for the tea.”

“Josh, wait!” Donna said quickly. “I don’t know what I said to upset you, but I’m sorry, whatever it was. I didn’t want to scare you off.”

He didn’t say anything, but did sit back in the chair, turning his face to the window.

They said in silence, drinking their tea for a few minutes.

“My apartment reminds me of Amy,” Josh said, eventually. “We broke up - I guess we broke up - after the welfare vote. I mean, I knew it wasn’t working, but I was trying. I did this thing, I was supposed to take her to Tahiti but it fell through, and I decorated my apartment in this Caribbean theme and I haven’t had a chance to take it down. I don’t even know if I’m that broken up about Amy, but after my friend CJ… she just lost someone special to her, he was shot and killed, and… God, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t be telling you this.”

“It’s ok,” Donna said quietly. 

Josh scrubbed his hands over his face. “Not really, but thanks.”

There was another moment of awkward silence. 

“Josh?”

“Yeah?”

“Aren’t you tired of somnambulating yet?” she asked.

“What?”

“Somnambulating,” she repeated. “It means-”

“I know what it means,” he said. “I'm just not sure if I know how it applies.”

“You’re sleepwalking through your life for a dream. And it’s a good dream - I think President Bartlet’s a good man, M.S. or no - but you can’t give up everything for this; no one can.”

Josh grunted. “What you need to understand is that I serve at the pleasure of the President…”

“I do understand. It’s an honor and a privilege, but I don’t think the President wants you to give up your life for him. Not after… especially not after you already almost did.”

He looked at her sharply.

“It was in the news,” Donna explained. “And, ok, I was curious about this man that seemed to enthrall our Director, so I may have done a little research on my own.”

“I used the word ‘ensorceled’,” he said absently. “So you’re not in the fan club, but you are a stalker.”

“Not as much as those people on lemonlyman dot com, but I was curious,” Donna laughed. “Look, if you don’t mind a little outside perspective, what you and Amy had was a bit of a dream too - you’re both too much yourselves for it to have worked. There was always going to be UN treaty or a welfare bill and you’re each too stubborn to back down and one of you was going to get hurt. Or, I guess based on appearances, both of you would.”

“Yeah,” he admitted. “I guess I knew that. I just… didn’t want to believe it.”

Donna felt a sudden streak of boldness. “You know what, let’s go to your apartment.” The shocked look on Josh’s face made her laugh. “Not like that. I can help you take down the decorations. And then maybe we can both get some sleep - in our own beds.”

Josh smiled. “Thank you for the offer, but this is probably something I should do by myself. Work through the grieving process, I guess.”

“Okay,” Donna said, finding herself a little disappointed.

“But maybe,” Josh offered, swallowing nervously, “maybe we could do this again. Come and have coffee or tea and just stop the world for each other?”

“I think I’d like that,” Donna said, a soft blush touching her cheeks.

The moment was broken by the ring of his cell phone. She half hoped he’d hit ignore, but then saw the dismay on his face when he checked the number.

“Josh Lyman,” he answered it. “Bruno? Yeah, I’ll be there in ten.” He turned back to her. “I guess the ban is lifted and we're being summoned back. Thank you, Donnatella Moss. I guess I really needed this.”

She took out one of her business cards, wrote something on it and slid it into his breast pocket, her hand pausing, pressed to his chest, long enough to feel his heart beat. He looked at her hand, and then in her eyes. “Er, sorry,” she said.

“Don’t be,” he said, taking her hand and shaking it once more, giving the slightest squeeze at the end. “I really do hope we can do this again.”

He grabbed his backpack, and headed to the door. He pulled the card from his pocket and read her barely legible script “Remember to breathe”. He turned back to see her smiling at him, and he returned his own dimpled grin. “I’ll do my best.”

**Author's Note:**

> the idea for this struck me when the title song came up while I was mowing the lawn. so grateful for SeaDog11, ABSea and kcat1971 for helping brainstorm and more to help this come to fruition.
> 
> and of course the biggest thanks for Marian Call for the wonderful song this is based on.


End file.
